


Abashed the Devil Stood

by sp00kworm



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angels, Angels Alternate Universe, Angst, Archangels, Demons, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gabriel - Freeform, God - Freeform, Heaven, Humour, Lucifer - Freeform, M/M, Michael - Freeform, Religious References, Satan - Freeform, Violence, angel au, mature content, mature content in later chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 05:16:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10915086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sp00kworm/pseuds/sp00kworm
Summary: Jack was never one to believe much in God. The whole aspect of religion was quite lost on him, but he still attended church like a good citizen each and every Sunday. But as he grew older, and he moved out from his parent's home, Jack stopped attending church, and started sleeping in, or running. It was pointless and unnecessary. He didn't believe until he saw the angel fall from the sky, the angel who claimed something ridiculous.------DISCONTINUED-------





	Abashed the Devil Stood

Jack was never one to believe much in God. The whole aspect of religion was quite lost on him, but he still attended church like a good citizen each and every Sunday. But as he grew older, and he moved out from his parent's home, Jack stopped attending church, and started sleeping in, or running. His brain had filed religion, and attending a mass he had no real interest in, less worthy of his attention and energy, and so, they stopped seeing Jack at the church, though no one really noticed all too much- people came and went in the military housing. His parents weren't too impressed with his lack of effort to attend the church mass, but they soon dropped the subject when he attended and finished college before joining the military.

The blond haired, blue eyed man had an affinity, or rather, a talent, for physical tasks. On tests he easily wiped the floor with the records, and his hand-eye coordination was like something the military had never seen. Some soldiers called him a miracle, others called him a suck up, but it was down to a raw innate talent, and hours of exercise a day that Jack swooped through the training and landed himself a hefty rank. Serving abroad was where he broke. Days spent being hunted in the deserts and watching soldiers step on land mines and be blown into pieces was more than enough for anyone to see in a lifetime, never mind the sentient robots they had fought later on. That was why he left, with a hefty wage and compensation, to live a more stable, normal life out in the country, away from the crowds and bustle of everyday life that he wanted to avoid.

The Indiana fields were mainly corn filled, but Jack wasn't a farmer, as much as many would like to believe with his golden corn coloured hair. He'd made quite the sum of money in the army, but he worked off hand as a mechanic for the farmers around and dabbled in this and that to get himself through. A desk job filing reports in the military had proved to be far too much of an issue for him to handle, the stress getting to him after merely a week. At least as a part time mechanic he had enough solitude and quiet to ease his easily frazzled nerves. 

Sighing, Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead, streaking oil across the top of his brow, before he placed aside the spanner he had been using to tighten a bolt in the engine of the combine harvester.  
“There you go Finn, should work a treat now. The fuel tank pipping was just a little lose which was causing the leak.” Jack grabbed a rag from his tool box and wiped the grime from his hands with a smile.  
“Thanks again Jack. I thought old Shelly was busted for good this time. I'll go get you the cash, and a slice of pie for your trouble. Susan just baked a cherry one if you'd like a slice to take with you?” Finn smacked the combine's wheel and smiled, twirling a stalk of grass with his tongue.  
“Sure, that'd be nice. Thanks Finn.” With a warm piece of pie and a nice sum of money, Jack waved once and backed his truck out of the gravel drive before heading home.

The little two floored cottage had a modest amount of land with it. Although he lived amongst farmers, Jack didn't do much of his own farming. The only thing he actually grew was vegetables in a patch in his garden and collected fruits from the tiny array of trees he had towards the back of the land surrounding the cottage. It was rustically built, being made of stone and plaster, and Jack had put plenty of time, effort and labour into making it liveable and warm. It was a definite labour of love, and Jack, although not too good at interior design, had a knack for being able to do DIY and had easily added things to the former old lady's cottage. Now it was a home worthy of being lived in, and was actually capable of being warm for longer than an hour with both the heating and a fire going. He'd originally spent as long as he could by the fire, and slept with at least three blanket over his duvet in the winter and a good pair of wool socks on his feet at all time. Jack was glad those days were far behind him now.

Stepping through the front door, he toed his work boots off and tucked them neatly onto the rack by the doormat before opening the cupboard and placing his tool box inside, though not before carefully removing the cooling pie from it. Josie his loud silly Golden Retriever met him by the door at the smell of food, and Jack leant down to pat her head gently before nudging her aside and making his way to the kitchen. Jack smiled as he caught a whiff of the pie's sweet scent, and he quickly shed his work coveralls in the bathroom and briskly showered. After dressing in some soft sweat pants and t-shirt, Jack heated the slice of pie in the microwave and tucked in, considering making himself some actual dinner later on in the afternoon when he was famished, not just a little hungry. Placing his plate in front of him on the coffee table, Jack rummaged around for the hollo-screen remote, and quickly found it under a pillow, before flicking on the news channel, Josie laid by his feet with a whine and Jack quickly let her up on the couch, his other hand threading into the fur behind her ears.

More murders and more famine, it never seemed to be anything different. Jack supposed he was lucky, but it still made him curl his nose and his heart ache. No one deserved anything like the horrors it was showing. The leaders of the new Republic of Russia had recently been found out to have been fire bombing the homes of some civilians. The horrors were met with sanctions from the rest of the world and little else with the apparent 'lack of evidence'. It seemed pretty clear to Jack that the culprits were the ones sat on the screen, in the parliament having a meeting. Shaking his head, Jack flicked his fingers along the remote for another channel. A mindless soap opera came on and Jack rolled his eyes but settled in for a good hour and a half of mindless numb watching. 

He got more invested in the dramatised adaptation of life than he would have liked. It turned out that the poor woman's son had been diagnosed with cancer, and Jack had watched four episodes by the time he managed to peer through the darkness at the wall clock. It was now eight o'clock, and he'd invested far too much of his time in the terrible show, probably much more than was probably good for him. His stomach growled in annoyance, and Jack sighed, patting his belly before hauling himself off the couch and into the kitchen, debating what he could possibly make. Josie followed on his heels, her tongue lolled out the left side of her mouth as she sat by her bowl near the back door. The Golden Retriever barked when Jack pulled out her biscuits and sat patiently, watching as her master put away the bag for the signal to eat. Jack held up his hand and waited a few moments.  
“Go on, get it.” He chuckled as Josie immediately stuck her face into her food bowl, wolfing down the biscuits noisily. Jack tugged the pasta down from the cupboard and whistled as he took out a ceramic dish. Hopefully pasta bake would be enough to keep his stomach at bay. 

With a steaming hot bowl of pasta bake in hand, Jack made his way out onto his porch on the back of the cottage. The cool night air had set in, and Jack blew out a hot breath of air, before sitting at the small table he had on the decking. The moon loomed overhead, crisp as the clouds finally rolled over it, revealing it to be full. The beams illuminated the gaps in the leaves of the fruit trees. Jack let out a long breath, chewing his tomato flavoured pasta thoughtfully. The grass rustled with the breeze, and Jack peered down at Josie, who had laid under his chair, a single ear perked, listening for anything that stirred in the night. Scratching his dog on top of her head, Jack gazed up at the stars, taking another mouthful of pasta with his other free hand. The stars twinkled and winked back at him, easy to see in the clear sky due to the barrenness of the place in which Jack lived. Softly, Jack hummed to himself, counting the constellations he could see, enjoying the peace which he had been granted. Not to say, at times, he did feel lonely. 

People were something that were far and few between, and the farmers were accommodating but not the company he was looking for. His mother would sometimes ring and often bang on about his life, and his lack of partner. It was a little bit hard, however, to find someone to be interested in out in the middle of nowhere. The city was just too much for him to handle, and Jack snorted at the thought of any sort of farmer being remotely interested in him, not to mention nearly all of them were at least forty. Well out of the age bracket he was looking for, and most of them well out of the looks. His mother called him finicky, picky, but Jack called it standards. He wasn't too fond on the idea of dating a forty year old greying man in dungarees. The blond cringed at the thought. But, he did wonder if there was any hope of him meeting someone out in the fields. Chuckling, he finished the last of his pasta and patted Josie's head as he got up, signalling for her to follow. Fat chance he'd find anyone that not only met his standards, but could deal with his issues. It seemed impossible. 

The light in the kitchen flickered as he closed the door, and Jack sighed looking up at the old light fixture. He needed to buy a new one anyway. Taking his bowl, Jack quickly cleaned it off along with his utensils and slowly dried them on a towel, looking out of the window in front of the sink. Stars winked back at him for a moment, and a cloud rolled over the moon. The light flickered again, blinking violently before the wires inside split and the bulb exploded. Jack frowned as the glass shattered noisily and clattered against the floor. Placing his knife and fork away, Jack reached into his pocket for his phone and clicked it open, tapping at the old holo-screen, before opening the torch icon. The screen lit up intensely and Jack manoeuvred his way to the cupboard, shooing Josie from the room to make sure she didn't cut her feet on the small shards of thin glass. 

Bending down, Jack swept the shards aside and carefully placed them in a bag to throw away later. Snapping the switch off at the wall, he sighed and muttered, placing his broom away back in its place in the cupboard. That was when the whole room lit up in white light. Jack winced, and closed his eyes as the brilliant white light erupted in the sky. Jack ran over to the window and peered up at the sky, watching as the stars dimmed and a bright streak shot down across the darkness. Jack grabbed the counter as tremors rumbled under foot and he was shot off balance. The meteor was gone in a blink of an eye, and a rumbling thunder sounded as something made contact with the ground. Jack rushed in the kitchen to find his coat, in disbelief of what he had just seen. Shoving his feet into his shoes, he wrestled the door open and whistled for Josie as he ran out into the fields next to his house. 

The corn a way in was on fire, and Jack steered himself and Josie around the flames, holding his hand to his face as he sprinted towards the smoke that had erupted around the crash site. Josie barked loudly and ran off ahead.  
“Josie! No, heel girl, heel!” He picked up his pace to catch up with the Golden Retriever, and huffed as he abruptly reached the edge of a crater. Bits of rock skittered down the incline as his feet teetered precariously on the edge of the sheer drop. Josie was already in the bottom of the pit, and whined at the dark figure in the middle. Jack's heart halted for a minute, and he was soon sliding down the side of the crater towards his dog. He grappled her by the collar before she could attack the figure, and watched as the shadowed thing stood up. Jack's heart stopped.

Great feathered white wings erupted from their sides, wide and strong, blazing in the moonlight, brilliant and pure. A few feathers dropped from them as they were beat twice in quick succession. Jack shielded his face as dust and pebbles were swept away in the great gusts of wind. The wings extended from the creature's shoulder blades, each at least two metres in length, covered in smooth sheer feathers, the flight feathers having to be at least sixty centimetres in length to even hold the creature up in the air. Slowly, after shaking their wings out, the figure turned around. Jack's mouth gaped at the figure. His body was human, well built and tall, thick with muscles, especially the shoulders. With the tanned skin of a Latino and the gorgeous curly black hair to go with it, Jack's mouth dropped open. The curls fell down to the stranger's mid back and he was instantly shoving them out of his eyes as he noticed Jack stood in the crater. Dark chocolate eyes glittered and a smile pulled back a love heart mouth to reveal white teeth. The circle of beard around his mouth was flattering, and emphasised the large grin.

That wasn't what made Jack flush in embarrassment. The man was completely nude. Jack tossed his arms up in front of his face and scowled.  
“Jesus Christ man! Don't you have clothes in the sky?!” Jack's eyes almost betrayed him, and slowly tried to gaze through the gaps between his fingers.  
The man chuckled, a low rumbling noise, “Clothes aren't generally a requirement. But I guess I can rustle something up...” A strange breeze picked up before the stranger rustled his feathered wings, “You can look now blondie.” He chuckled again as Jack cautiously peered between his fingers, and then revealed his flushed cheeks. The man had donned a pair of tight dress trousers, white shirt and long black leather trench coat. 

A tense moment of silence occurred until Jack coughed, “Well, I guess if you're okay, then I'll just...” Jack gestured vaguely and turned around, dragging a resisting Josie by her collar.  
“Wait.” Jack turned around to face the stranger with a raised eyebrow, “Michael?” The man moved closer, his wings fluttering curiously as he took two long strides closer to Jack, “Where the hell have you been?! Wait, I mean, forget the hell part. But just... where have you been?!”  
Jack flinched away as the man took hold of his arm, as though he had been burnt, and scowled, “Whoever you're looking for, I'm not him. My name's Jack for a start buddy.” He then turned away and continued to pull Josie up the banking before heaving her up into his arms, and setting his foot against the loose rubble edge.  
“Have you lost it Michael? Jack, really? You think you can fool me?...” The stranger looked into Jack's blue eyes in that moment and frowned, “Why can I see a soul in your eyes? How...Do you not remember me?” 

Jack scowled angrily, heaving Josie up onto the edge of the crater, “For the last time! I don't know who the fuck you are bird brain!” He struggled to get himself up and over the edge, before finally pulling himself up with a heave of effort. The man frowned behind him, and spread his wings before, with one great flap, rocketing out of the pit to Jack's side.  
“Look at me, Michael.” Jack reared backwards as the man's hand shot out and grappled him by the jacket, “Gabriel, does that ring a bell?” He stared intently, searching Jack's face for a sign of recognition.  
“No...wait a minute! As in you're the angel Gabriel?!” Jack jerked backwards trying to escape the iron grip of the confused heavenly creature.  
“It took you this long to catch on?” Gabriel shook his head, “Never mind that now. How on earth did you lock yourself away in a mortal....” He began babbling to himself, still holding Jack in a vice grip by the front of his jacket. Jack scrambled for a moment before huffing and raising his fist before socking it against the angel's jaw. 

The fist connected with a thwack and Jack cringed a little as his knuckles popped with the contact. Gabriel's head shot to the side and he let go of Jack before placing a hand against his face.  
“How did you make that hurt? No mortal has ever hurt me before...” The dark eyes glared at him, and Jack shuddered beneath the gaze before breaking into a sprint. Josie barked behind him, hot on his heels as he weaved between the corn rows back towards his house.  
“What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?!” Jack cursed as he panted, finally making it to his door, throwing it open before dead-bolting it behind him. Heaving, he ran through to the lounge and froze at the angel perched on the back of his wooden rocking chair. Innocently, Gabriel tossed his curls over his shoulder and snapped shut the bible he had in his hand. He was perfectly balanced on the thin back of the chair, his wings all but gone, slits in his coat the only evidence they had ever existed. Jack scrambled back against the wall, eyes wide with fright and annoyance. 

“Why can't you just leave me alone?!” The blond felt behind him for anything to use to defend himself, and grasped a fire poker from its rack. Gabriel's head tilted before he closed his eyes, seemingly focusing for a moment, before opening them again. The dark brown irises were gone, and the entirety of his eyes were black, glistening scarily in the yellow light of the bulb in the ceiling.  
“Angels were never granted souls, essences of life, those were only granted to God's image, to the humans. Thus, the windows to the soul are something we do not have, they are black, nothing can be seen in them. Humans have eyes in various colours, shapes and sizes to reflect their soul. Somehow, Jack, Michael, you've created yourself a soul. You've made yourself human, and I need you to be an angel.”

Jack held the poker in his right hand, ready to swing it as Gabriel elegantly leaped off the back of the rocking chair and strode across the room.  
“What do you need from me, why do you need me of all people?” He held out a hand, and Gabriel pushed against the palm of it, his chest pressing into the skin. Gabriel placed his hand over Jack's against his chest and leant forwards, smiling, his eyes infinite pools of swirling night sky.  
“I need you, Jackie, to fight a war. I need you to be the angel you were created as. Michael, the leader of God's army.” Gabriel pressed his thumbs to the top of Jack's cheek bones, his fingers against his jaw. There wasn't a pulse, no heart beat, nothing. Whatever Gabriel was, he wasn't truly alive, he just, existed. Jack recoiled from the cool touch and watched as Gabriel sauntered over to the couch.  
“And that, Jack, is why I'm here to help. God sent me to retrieve you, and so it seems, I've got to help you retrieve your memories.” He smiled and whipped around, his coat flying around the back of his legs. Jack let the poker fall from his hands and he opened his mouth to protest.  
“No arguing Jack, we've got work to be doing.” Gabriel tugged Jack's hand.

Recovering himself, Jack pulled his hand free with a scowl, and scrambled for the poker he had dropped with a clatter to the floor.  
“Look you freak, I don't care what sort of crusade you say you're coming to prevent or whatever, I am not, repeat, not getting involved with whatever bull shit you're trying to swing. Nice magic act but I'm not biting. Now I suggest you get out of my house before I call nine one one and have your ass forcibly removed and press charges.” Jack's eyes blazed with fury, and he held the poker like a spear, ready to launch it at the supposed angel across from him. Gabriel's eyebrows raised, his shoulders twitching as though his wings were fluttering behind him.  
“Are you threatening me?” He grinned and moved forwards, his hands tucked into his coat pockets, hair falling over his dark eyes.  
The blond moved around the edge of the couch and levelled the poker at him, “To me it seems like you're the one threatening here. Claiming all this shit about angels.” Jack slowly edged his way around to the phone, one hand grabbing for his phone, which he had placed on the kitchen side. Gabriel eyed the device and snorted, before turning around, heading towards the door. 

Jack stopped and watched as the angel sauntered over to the door,  
“There's no need. I'll see myself out.” Gabriel waved a hand, tossing his hair over his shoulder, and out of his eyes, “I'll show you who you truly are though, Jack, don't you worry.” A gust of cool breeze through the cottage signalled that he had left. Jack peered around the corner and sighed before realising he was shaking. His hands were shaking around the poker and he dropped it to the floor with a shaky breath. He didn't need this stress, he didn't need another war. No self acclaimed angel of god was going to convince him otherwise.  
“What the fuck was that? An angel?” Jack shook his head, panting as he shook his head. It was ridiculous. He chuckled and placed the poker back on its rack. It was a good con he'd give the idiot that. Locking the door, he headed up to bed, and collapsed into the lavender scented sheets. 

Gabriel huffed out a breath as he perched on the top of the roof, wings resting gracefully against shoulders, wrapped around his sides against the cool chill of the night. He watched as the lights of the house turn off as Jack went to sleep and shifted his legs as he positioned himself comfortably on the roof, intending to find a place to hunker down for the night. Swooping down off the roof, Gabriel landed in the orchard at the back of Jack's home and found a large apple tree. Beating his wings once, he leaped up into the branches and perched in the arch of the trunk, tucking his wings around his arms and up over his shoulders, to his jaw line. With a final sigh, he crooked his neck, tucking his head close to his shoulder, under his wing. He'd convince Jack tomorrow, somehow.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a random idea I had come to me in a moment of madness. Hopefully its decently written, but I edited the first chapter some more to flow how I wanted to, (and I went off on a random tangent I didn't intend to), so now it flows much better and is consistent. Any comments and kudos are much appreciated!  
> \-------DISCONTINUED----------


End file.
